Spreading disinformation is not a new phenomenon but it is `easy, anonymous, fast and cheap', the minister said. In particular, Russia has attempted to influence people's ideas about the MH17 disaster, she said, referring to a website which was full of false information but had been made to look like an official Dutch operation.
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In February, for example, the New York Times reported that opponents of the Ukraine treaty with the EU used a special `Ukrainian team,' a group of émigrés whose sympathies lay with Russia to help tilt Dutch public opinion. In the US an investigation is under way into Russian efforts to influence the presidential election. Madrid also claims that Russia is trying to have an impact on the Catalonia independence campaign. And on Tuesday, British prime minister Theresa May has accused Moscow of using fake news to undermine democracy.